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The Fifth Amendment which was done to the United States constitution is included in the bill of rights of the constitution. The amendments protect the people from abuse of the authority in legal proceedings. It provides guideline for custodial interrogation where it stops the use of offence and evidence obtained illegally or with force.

In the case of Brown vs Mississippi defendants were accused of killing Raymond Stewart, and were sentenced to death even after pleading not guilty. The Supreme Court overruled the sentence in the essence that the evidence was not enough (Justia.com, 2011). In Miranda vs Arizona, (1966), Ernesto Miranda confessed the crime but the Supreme Court said that the confession would not be used in court because the accused was not informed of his rights while he was being put in custody. Escobedo who was not allowed to see his attorney pleaded guilty and was sentenced, but the Supreme Court overruled the conviction (ORACLE ThinkQuest).

The Fifth Amendment also provides guidelines which protect the witness from answering any question that may make the accused provide self-incriminating evidence which may make him be sentenced or be fined or face any penalty of some nature. This was also seen in the Miranda warnings which protect a person from saying anything and hence the right to remain silent either due to the ambiguity of the case or because of innocence. (Roshin, 2011).

Nevertheless the Supreme Court has limitations to the amendments safeguards where in case of a drunken driving and there is a video taping showing how the drivers behave, then the video tape can be used as evidence to the case. This hence is a limitation to Miranda’s protection (Pennsylvania, 1990). This will only apply when the accused is put in custody and deprived of movement.